By Kahlil Najar
OAKLAND – Coco Crisp hit his first walk off home run of his career in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the A’s (2-2) a 3-2 win over the previously undefeated Seattle Mariners (3-1).
“I was just going up there to swing as hard as I could. Probably nine times out of 10, I ended up with a strikeout with that approach. Tonight was that one time that it ended up working out. I’m not going to have that as my everyday approach but I’m just grateful that it worked out tonight,” said Crisp on his game winner. Head Coach Bob Melvin said, “That was his intent, and that’s tough to do. Going up there trying to hit a home run especially when you’re a leadoff-type guy.” Then when asked about Coco’s power and if many teams take his power for granted Melvin said, “Some teams do. But we don’t.”
Jesse Chavez took the mound for the A’s tonight for his first official game of the year after leading the majors in wins in Spring Training and he performed well. Chavez scattered five hits over six innings and struck out four Seattle batters and only walked two.
The start of the game didn’t look like it was going the A’s way as Alberto Callaspo; who was starting at first for the first time in his career, let a grounder from Almonte go through his legs and the ball ended up in short right field. Nick Punto who was playing second tonight went to back up the ball but after he picked it up, he threw the ball wide to Callaspo who had hustled back to first and gave the A’s their second error on the very first batter of the game and landed Almonte at second.
The Mariners capitalized on this error when after a Brad Miller fly out moved Almonte to third, Robinson Cano hit a hard grounder to A’s second basemanb Nick Punto who tossed him out at first but allowed Almonte to score and gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead. Seattle scored again the top of the fifth when Almonte hit a single into center field that scored Logan Morrison who had singled earlier in the inning and gave the Mariners a two run lead.
The A’s had been held hit-less into the bottom of the fifth until Punto smacked a sharp single to left field. With the momentum switching, Punto stole his first base of the year and landed at second with new fan favorite Sam Flud up to bat.
Fuld didn’t disappoint as he hit a line drive into center field that Almonte dived for but missed and allowed Punto to score from second. The ball traveled so far on the ground that it looked like Fuld would have his first career inside-the-park home run but with some great fielding by the Mariners they were able to pick him off at home and only give the A’s one run. Umpire Crew chief Fieldin Culbreth called for a replay review of the play at the plate to see if Zunino was in violation of the collision rule and gave Fuld a lane to get to home plate. The review proved that Zunino wasn’t in the way and confirmed the out and end the inning.
The A’s waited until the bottom of the Eigth to tie the game at two when Yoenis Cespedes hit his first triple of the year and scored Coco Crisp who had walked at the beginning of the inning.
After the issue with Jim Johnson and the longevity of the games over the past two days, Melvin brought in Sean Doolittle for the ninth and tenth inning and he only gave up one hit on 20 pitches and kept the game tight.
In the bottom of the twelfth Coco Crisp hit his first homer of the year and his first walk off homer ever into right field off of newly entered Seattle pitcher Hector Noesi.
New guys Sam Flud and Nick Punto impressed the crowd and Melvin tonight with their tremendous play.
“They both run the bases well and in the field. They were key to the win today and usually you need vets to come off the bench but these guys performed well,” said Melvin.
In addition to his almost inside-the-park homer, Flud had an amazing diving catch to end an inning and Punto had a head-first slide into first to load the bases.
The A’s and Mariners head back at it tomorrow night when Oakland’s Dan Straily takes on the Mariners Chris Young, game time 7:05 pm PST.
Sports Radio Service 